Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing and its Applications

TL;DR

This paper provides an overview of OFDM, a popular multi-carrier modulation technique used in modern wireless and broadcasting systems, highlighting its benefits, drawbacks, and applications.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive review of OFDM's principles, applications, advantages, and disadvantages, serving as a useful reference for understanding its role in current communication systems.

Findings

OFDM effectively handles severe channel conditions without complex equalization.

OFDM improves long-distance communication by eliminating ISI and enhancing SNR.

OFDM has notable drawbacks like high peak-to-average power ratio and sensitivity to phase noise.

Abstract

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multi-carrier modulation technique which is very much popular in new wireless networks of IEEE standard, digital television, audio broadcasting and 4G mobile communications. The main benefit of OFDM over single-carrier schemes is its ability to cope with severe channel conditions without complex equalization filters. It has improved the quality of long-distance communication by eliminating InterSymbol Interference (ISI) and improving Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR). The main drawbacks of OFDM are its high peak to average power ratio and its sensitivity to phase noise and frequency offset. This paper gives an overview of OFDM, its applications in various systems such as IEEE 802.11a, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and Digital Broadcast Services to Handheld Devices (DVB-H) along with its advantages and disadvantages.